Love And War
by shxrlocked
Summary: The war is heating up, and the golden trio are sick and tired of being told that they are too young to fight. After much dissapointment, Hermione discovers how they can use the pensieve to their advantage... But then she is faced with a new problem: with each memory she sees, Hermione finds herself falling deeper and deeper for the man who went on to become Lord Voldemort...


**~Prologue~**

Hermione Granger is slowly losing everything that she loves to Lord Voldemort.

She still finds it hard to believe that it was just two years prior that he was reborn, because the havoc that has ensued within just twenty four months has been enough to knock her entire life off kilter. Who knew that she could spend _fourteen years_ creating friendships, strengthening bonds with her family, her home and her school, to find that all of those things could be put under a terrifying threat in just _two years_? The Death Eaters numbers are growing stronger by the day, and she knows that she is one of the biggest targets of them all. Hermione is everything that the Death Eaters hate: _Muggle-born, a member of Dumbledore's Army, one of the best friends of Harry Potter and resistant to their reign._

Hermione is now in her sixth year of education at Hogwarts, and the intellectual part of her knows that she should be focusing on her N.E. rather than the war... But the Gryffindor within cannot just leave this in the hands of the 'grown ups'. She hates those words no matter how right they are: _"You three need to stop trying to get involved. You are still children; you should not be getting yourselves involved in this! Leave the Death Eaters to us._" These are words often spoken by Mrs Weasley or Remus Lupin, and she knows that they are only trying to protect them... But they can't any more. Voldemort is just too powerful; he will probably attempt to overthrow the Minister of Magic any day now, and the school will be next. Keeping the students at bay will not protect them. When the Death Eaters finally come to town then all this repression will do is harm them, because they will be terribly unprepared! Can't they see that?

_They cannot protect everyone anymore_. _Voldemort is just. Too. Strong!_

"Are we supposed to just _sit back_ and forget that all of this is happening?" Harry scoffs one day, slamming his fist in to a nearby wall afterwards. Hermione has never seen him so angry. Usually Harry is a rather calm person... But, saying that, he has been known to lose his temper on the odd few occasions. An example of that would be when he first arrived at Grimmauld Place last year – being kept in the dark about the happenings in the wizarding world had enraged him. Hermione can see a ghost of that temper in his burning emerald eyes now. "Are you honestly telling me that I can't _fight him_?"

"Harry, _calm down_," Remus says in what Hermione presumes is supposed to be a soothing voice, but Lupin is anything _but_ soothing right now. His face is an unreadable mask and his eyes look tired, as though he has suffered through countless sleepless nights. This war is seriously taking its toll on the Order, yet they still think that they can honestly protect Hogwarts? "You are _sixteen years old_, you cannot run around after Death Eaters at your age – you are underestimating them-"

"_Underestimating them?_" Harry fumes, "I FOUGHT VOLDEMORT OFF TWO YEARS AGO! THE D.A. FOUGHT DEATH EATERS _LAST YEAR_! I SURVIVED THAT, HERMIONE AND RON SURVIVED THAT, SO HOW CAN YOU SIT THERE AND TELL ME THAT WE ARE TOO YOUNG?"

Usually, Hermione would cut in around this stage and attempt to calm Harry down. But he is right, and it is really starting to grind on her nerves that no one will listen to them because 'they are children'. Sometimes, Hermione wonders if the Order of the Phoenix have forgotten what Harry has done – what _they_ have done... That they never really _had_ a childhood in the first place. They saved the Philosopher's stone from Voldemort in their _first year _of school, slayed a Basilisk and destroyed a horcrux in second year, travelled back in time to save two innocent lives in third year, Harry fought off Voldemort in fourth year, they battled Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic just last year and... And suddenly they are _too young for this_? They, who have dealt with more darkness and pain than over three-quarters of the adult wizarding population?

She doesn't understand. To be honest she doesn't really _want_ to understand. She is stuck at a crossroads – to run or to fight? Running would make everything a lot easier. She could just go about her day-to-day life as though Voldemort does not exist. She could get O's in her N.E. , have a laugh with her friends, send her parents away to Australia or something, to keep them safe... She could even join them there. Leave the country, live in the sun... Leave her magical life behind...

Ok, so maybe she is not _stuck_ at the crossroad. That was worded wrong... No, the door to the road she wants to take has been bolted shut: that is a better definition for it. Running would be easy and effortless – running is what the Order _want_s her to do. She is a muggle-born and she is a child. What Death Eater would spare her? What Death Eater would take her _seriously_? Of course they would be underestimating her, but it could still rile her temper, and a bad temper always leads to mistakes.

But what would her life be without magic? Granted, she would be safe if she ran, but what about Harry? What about Ron? This is not something that they can run away from, and the Order are _kidding_ themselves if they think that they could. Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort, Voldemort can get in to his head, Ron's parents are both members of the Order... The only one of the three that could possibly run from this is Hermione, but even she has suffered at the hands of the Dark Lord. Like the time that his horcrux used a Basilisk to petrify her, and the fact that he is trying to kill her friends... The people she has grown to class as her family...

She could run from this now and, physically, she would be safe... But mentally she would be consumed with guilt, fear, loss, paranoia and just an overall unhappiness. She could never leave Ron and Harry. She could _never_ leave the wizarding world behind. It is her home – she _belongs_ here no matter _what_ those prejudice bastards believe. She refuses to let them win: she will stay and she will _fight_. She will help save the wizarding world from being ruled by darkness... Even if she dies trying. It is better than waking up every morning and wondering whether anyone you care about is dead.

But there is that bolted door blocking her path. The Order will obviously not tell them _anything_ about the Death Eater's moves, the Daily Prophet is hardly informative (they are very behind on death tolls and attacks, _plus_ it is mainly used to attempt to keep ignorant civilians calm) and, without them, Harry, Hermione and Ron have absolutely _no_ leads whatsoever... And, if Hermione is begrudgingly honest with herself, the golden trio _need_ the Order. Voldemort in the flesh is not a battle that they can fight alone.

Just when Hermione is about to lose hope, that key to the blocked path is finally handed to her in the form of Harry's first private lesson with Dumbledore. As Harry tells them about what he has learnt of Marvolo, Morfin and Merope Gaunt – the grandfather, uncle and _mother_ of Voldemort – the idea finally hits Hermione.

"... and he was speaking in parseltounge to-"

"THAT'S IT!" She hisses, leaping up from her comfortable seat in front of the Gryffindor common room's fireplace. She grins eagerly at Ron and Harry, who both glance at each other in confusion before looking back at their friend. She does not seem to realize that she had interrupted Harry in the middle of his speech.

"Er, 'Mione?" Ron mutters, "_What _is_ '_it'?"

"Tom Riddle!" She replies, as though that is the greatest explanation she could ever have given them. When they still look mildly confused she sighs exasperatedly, "Don't you see? Dumbledore's lessons will help us! If we knew Voldemort from when he was a child then we may be able to find his weakness! We can still do _this_, Harry, whether we have the Order or not. If we could provide the Order with information on Voldemort that they don't have, and then maybe they'll remember that we're not just children!"

"I hate to burst your bubble of incredible intellect," Ron says, immediately earning a glare from the excited witch in front of him, "But don't you think that Dumbledore will have already told the Order about what he's shown Harry? Surely he's already looked at all the Riddle-related memories by now."

Hermione's shoulders slump in defeat. How did she not think of that? Irritated at her own stupidity, she falls back on to the cushioned sofa and rests her cheek on her hand sulkily. It is such a good plan – a _fantastic_ plan! – but Ron is right. Dumbledore will have looked in to those memories so much that they will most likely be drilled in to his brain word-for-word... But he won't have all of Riddle's memories, will he? She perks up at that.

"What about if we could-"

"Do you _have_ to keep interrupting me?" Harry _tsks_.

"Sorry, Harry," She apologizes feebly before continuing, "But what if we could find _more_ memories on Riddle?"

"And where are we going to get those?" Ron asks, "Oh, I know! We could always get Harry to look in to his mind and find his whereabouts. You know, just stroll in to one of their weirdo meetings and say: 'Hey, Voldy, mind if we nick a few memories? We're just trying to find out how to kill you and, since you've caused us enough trouble, it's the least you could do, really.' I bet he'll be right up for that."

"_Ronald!_" Hermione snaps irritably, using her tone to tell him to shut up. "I _obviously _didn't mean it like that! But the memories that Dumbledore will show Harry will help." She turns to Harry desperately, "Harry, if you can get the names of the people that he interacted with in those memories then we could go and find them. We could collect more – we could find his weakness!"

"Hermione..." Harry trails off, gazing in to the flickering flames of the fireplace dubiously. "I don't know..." He sighs, "I already know that everyone in that memory is dead. What if that's the case for the others?"

"But what if it's _not_?" She hisses. How can they just let this opportunity slide by? She feels like grabbing both of their shoulders and shaking some sense in to them, "What if one of those people knows how to kill him?"

"I doubt that-"

"_Shut up_, Ron!" She growls, "Both of you are being stupid! Don't you realize that this is _all_ we can do? Right now we're locked up in Hogwarts – we can't exactly go out there and find Voldemort ourselves, so why shouldn't we do this? We could at least _try_, and if we don't find anything then that's alright, but at least we gave it a go!"

She meets Harry's eyes again and beseeches him to understand – to just _listen_ to her. They _have_ to do this. This could be the very difference between life and death! If they can find out just who the man behind the mask of Voldemort is – if they can _understand_ him – then maybe they can destroy him. No one is fearless. No one is immune to pain. Everyone has a weakness, and this could be their only opportunity to find his.

"The Order won't know," She murmurs, "No one needs to know. Not even Dumbledore. If we keep it from them then we can do this... You could be thankful in the end."

Harry sighs again, "Alright, alright," He murmurs, "We can give it a go."

"You're mental," Ron mutters, "We'll never be able to do it. I bet that Bellatrix cow doesn't even know about his past, and she seems to be _obsessed_ with him! How the hell are we – three clueless _kids_ – going to uncover the Darkest Sorcerer in the world's past?"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione sighs, rolling her eyes and patting him on the shoulder, "You're beginning to sound like your mother."

Even Ron's ears turn red, at that. And both Hermione and Harry laugh. She feels as though her spirits have been lifted, somehow. That some hope has returned. They can still fight – even if the fight is intellectual rather than physical. If this plan actually works then maybe – just maybe – they will be able to win this war...


End file.
